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Aster – Michaelmas Daisy The American who reads English books about gardens is thrilled by the love of the British for Michaelmas Daisies. He immediately hunts his own roadsides and delves into catalogs to acquire some of these lovely flowers. For the wild Asters are truly lovely and are an asset to any garden, many of which bloom at a […]
Polemonium – Jacob’s Ladder, Charity, Greek Valerian Jacob’s Ladder is a very ornamental and graceful flowering plant of early Spring and Summer. The flowers are blue, or white, flat or bellshaped, and are borne in spikes; the foliage is very finely cut, much resembling fern fronds. Polemonium caeruleum or the Greek Valerian is rather bushy with long spikes, about 2 […]
Potentilla – Cinquefoil, Five Finger Potentillas greatly resemble the Strawberry Plant, especially in the manner of growth and the foliage. This is a trailing plant which covers the ground rapidly and sends out roots as it goes along. The flowers are very showy, the colors are very bright, with reds, oranges and yellows predominating. These flowers are both double and […]
There is hardly a group of flowers which possess such rare beauty as does the large genus of Campanulas. There are many sorts, some growing inches high and some from 4 feet to 6 feet high, but all have more or less bell-shaped flowers in lovely colors: white, clear pink, blue, rose, purplishrose, violet-blue and lavender. All of them are […]
Digitalis – Foxglove, Witches’ Thimbles A well grown Foxglove in full flower is a plant of dignity and beauty. The long flowering spikes grow from 3 to 6 feet tall, rising high above large clumps of broad, downy leaves. Upon the flowering stalk, the flowers open slowly as the impulse to bloom moves upward. This tends to lengthen the blooming […]
To those persons who are familiar with the annual sorts of Scabiosa, we need only say that the perennials resemble the annuals, except that the perennials have shorter florets at the center, while in the annual sorts the flowers are made up of florets of more uniform length. Scabiosa caucasica is the commonest perennial with flowers either light lilac-blue or […]
Lythrum – Purple Loosestrife, Black Blood The common Purple Loosestrife (Lylhrum Salicaria) grows from 4 feet to 6 feet tall and blooms during the months of July and August. Banned by most States in the United States. The foliage is willow-like and the tall, erect, graceful spikes produce brightly colored reddish-purple flowers. The Rose Loosestrife (L. roseum superbum) has a rose-colored […]
Snow-in-Summer is surely a very descriptive name for this low growing, white flowered and silvery foliaged plant. There are myriads of small white flowers produced in June from a dense mat of growth. Cerastium tomentosum is the common species and grows about 6 inches high. C. Biebersteinii is very similar but grows a little taller and has larger flowers. C. […]
Among our pernicious weeds is one whose seeds are provided with hooks which catch in our clothing when on a Summer walk through the woods. This is a Geum. It is a surprise, therefore, to find several excellent perennial flowers as its relatives. The common species, Geum coccineum, or chiloense as it is more properly called, grows from 12. inches to […]
Alyssum – Madwort, Basket of Gold, Gold Dust, Goldentuft, Rockmadwort The various Alyssums have been known for a long time as one of the best, if not the best, edging plant for borders of all kinds. They have been combined with Darwin Tulips, with Rock Cress (Arabis) and the False Wall Cress (Aubrietia), and also with shrubs, such as the […]